When Worlds Collide (Part 1)
May 20th, 2008
(By John MacArthur)
Six years ago, I wrote a relatively brief book entitled Why One Way? Defending an Exclusive Claim in an Inclusive World. As the title conveys, the book was meant as a reminder of the gospel’s distinctiveness.
That reminder is still desperately needed today, as evangelicalism continues to find itself tempted by the siren calls of our pluralistic society. Now is not the time to make friends with the world. It is certainly no time to capitulate to worldly cries for ecumenism and inclusivism. Unless we recover our conviction that Christ is the only way to heaven, the evangelical movement will become increasingly weak and irrelevant.
It is ironic that so many who are downplaying the exclusivity of Christ are doing it because they believe it is a barrier to “relevance.” Actually, Christianity is not relevant at all if it is merely one of many possible paths to God. The relevance of the gospel has always been its absolute exclusivity, summed up in the truth that Christ alone has atoned for sin and therefore Christ alone can provide reconciliation with God for those who believe only in Him.
The early church preached Christ crucified, knowing that the message was a stumblingblock to the religious Jews and foolishness to the philosophical Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:23). We need to recover that apostolic boldness. We need to remember that sinners are not won by clever public relations or the powers of earthly persuasion, but it is the gospel — an inherently exclusive message — that is the power of God unto salvation.
That very narrowness sets Christianity apart from every other world view. After all, the whole point of Jesus’ best-known sermon was to declare that the way to destruction is broad and well traveled, while the way of life is so narrow that few find it (Matthew 7:14). Our task as ambassadors of God is to point to that very narrow way. Christ Himself is the one way to God, and to obscure that fact is in effect to deny Christ and to disavow the gospel itself.
We must resist the tendency to be absorbed into the fads and fashions of worldly thought. We need to emphasize, not downplay, what makes Christianity unique. And in order to do that effectively, we need to have a better grasp of how worldly thought is threatening sound doctrine in the church. We must be able to point out just where the narrow way diverges from the broad way.
In tomorrow’s post, I will overview what I believe to be six key components of a biblical worldview — that is, the worldview that sets Christianity apart from every other worldly viewpoint.
AMEN!
As Christians, we know whereof we stand. But in an environment where there are so many ideas and beliefs offering to meet man’s search for meaning and all seemingly attractive and equally challenging, how could we interpose their faith without appearing equally exclusivistic and ethnocentric?
There are people who are absolutists and virulent in their anti-theist and anti-Christian belief. How do we counteract these people? Should we just avoid them, not talk with them at all? What should we say when they call us narrowminded delusional godfreaks, our Christian beliefs a delusion, and our bible a horrible fairytale? How do we deal with them? What should be our language?
The religious reality in our society (and in the whole world, I guess) is a complex and perflexing one. A person will tend towards agnosticism or be lost spiritually without the firm hold of Christ in that person’s life.
John McArthur’s article is discomforting, and challenging. Its also a wake-up call. Its really so tempting to dumb down or emaciate one’s faith in the sense-surround siren calls of pluralism.
I’m still in search for answers to the questions I have posed above.
“As Christians, we know whereof we stand. But in an environment where there are so many ideas and beliefs offering to meet man’s search for meaning and all seemingly attractive and equally challenging, how could we interpose their faith without appearing equally exclusivistic and ethnocentric?”
Correction in caps:
As Christians, we know whereof we stand. But in an environment where there are so many ideas and beliefs offering to meet man’s search for meaning and all seemingly attractive and equally challenging, how could we interpose OUR faith without appearing equally exclusivistic and ethnocentric?
There is a fire in the building. One way out. All invited.
*Exclusivistic* ???
That question is what has given rise to the Emergent Movement and Re-Think, recently held at the Crystal Cathedral.
What a great article. I wish much more of the pastors today would write this biblically. I think most evangelical pastors fall for this nonsense to get big crowds and have a whole lot of money. They don’t want to rely on God but they want to rely on man-centered unity. I am glad that to the man-centered emergent types I am irrelevant. Becaus I want to follow the only relevant word, the bible. I thank God everyday for the small group of pastors who discern the real problems in the church.
We are having this problem at our church with the emergent folks. They all sound like a bunch of Buddhists! Getting them to say anything is like nailing jello to the wall as one book put it. Someone could walk into an emergent church, it seems, smoking a crack pipe and yelling obscenities and they would be ushered into the inner circle of church leadership. If someone were to speak out about the abomination of abortion though they would be castigated and the rules of church discipline would be followed to the letter! We must not let this scourge, this liberalism for the postmoderns, infect our church and make it even more flacid than it often already is. Dr. MacArthur is a true hero of the Word!
… how could we interpose their faith without appearing equally exclusivistic and ethnocentric? … What should we say when they call us narrowminded delusional godfreaks, our Christian beliefs a delusion, and our bible a horrible fairytale? How do we deal with them? What should be our language?
We are not called to deal with them, nor are we called to defend ourselves. We are called to teach God’s Word - thus saith the Lord. It is up to God to convict and to save. He that has ears will listen and hear as you teach God’s Word. He that does not have ears will not listen and can be treated as the disciples treated the villagers that would not receive them - they simply walked away, shaking the dust from their feet as they went.
What is the alternative? Can you convince someone that God is real, if only you could find the right words?
Remember Moses when he complained to God about not being able to speak to Pharoah. God told Moses that He would be with him and would give him the words he needed. Scripture has the right words. Remember who He is: He is “I am”.